PUBLIC unrest is growing in Fiji as economic woes intensify in the troubled Pacific Island nation.

Fiji has been isolated by sanctions imposed after Commodore Frank Bainimarama’s 2006 coup.

Unnamed sources in the capital Suva told The Australian ordinary Fijians were becoming “increasingly disenchanted” at the nation’s economic isolation and “failed promises” of the country’s coup leaders.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is playing down rumours of another coup. Officials confirm “background noise” linked to rising public unease over the past two months.

However, its travel advice to Fiji remains unchanged at the second lowest safety setting — to “exercise caution” due to the unresolved political situation.

One Fijian insider who asked not to be named said: “It’s difficult to establish what’s fact from fiction right now — coup rumours have been sweeping around here for the last month or so.

“But, I have a feeling something is happening.

“I think we’re going to see a shift soon — something for the better — maybe a move (by Bainimarama) to be more politically inclusive.”

The Australian National University’s Fiji expert, Brij Lal said “deepening dissatisfaction” was taking hold across Fiji.

In the absence of a free media in Fiji, “gossip and rumour” were flourishing, Professor Lal said.

Splits also appear to be emerging in the ranks of the country’s military.

Lieutenant-Colonel Tevita Mara — the commander of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, the country’s biggest army formation — has been ordered on leave pending a corruption investigation.

More than 40 per cent of Fiji’s 800,000 population now lives below the poverty line, Professor Lal said.

IMF team meets RBF

Elenoa Baselala
Tuesday, September 21, 2010

OFFICIALS of the International Monetary Fund are in the country meeting with government officials as well as the Reserve Bank of Fiji.

Reservec Bank of Fiji Governor Sada Reddy confirmed the visit, saying this was a follow-up visit to Fiji’s request for financial assistance, previously estimated to be about $1billion. Mr Reddy said the officials had visited in April and this was a follow-up.

Last month, World Bank East Asia Pacific region vice president James Adams confirmed to this newspaper of the joint mission with IMF.

In that interview, he mentioned the mission would discuss the economic reforms Fiji needed to take.

During the April visit, the IMF had made a number of recommendations on economic reforms which Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama alluded to during his address at the announcement of the 2010 revised budget in July.

He mentioned the possibility of a standby arrangement (SBA). According to the IMF website, SBA has been used time and again by member countries and was upgraded in 2009 to be more flexible and responsive to member countries’ needs.

“When a country borrows from the IMF, it agrees to adjust its economic policies to overcome the problems that led it to seek funding in the first place,” the website said.

Commodore Bainimarama, in his July address, said the State would make its own decision and assessment on the implications of taking up such a facility.

One of the IMF recommendations was that government’s finances move from cash to accrual accounting.

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Ho, there he goes again the recalcitrant oink who really thinks he knows it all in his ‘my way or the highway’ ignorance.

We have one suggestion for the recalcitrant, know all (NOT) oink, when it comes to highways, fool, please go and play in the traffic, preferably carbon monoxide laden Edinburgh Drive at peak hour.

Suicide detainee’s pleas were ‘ignored’

There are claims the man who died at the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre yesterday was to be a witness in legal action against the Fijian government.

The revelation comes as 13 asylum seekers protest on the roof of the Sydney detention centre.

Eleven asylum seekers spent the night on the roof of one of the centre’s buildings after yesterday asking to speak to Immigration Department officials.

Two more men have since joined the protest, climbing onto the roof of another building.

Two of the original protesters have cut themselves and the group has refused food and water.

The original 11 men – nine Sri Lankan Tamils and two Iraqis – have been protesting for 24 hours. They scaled the roof after the apparent suicide death of Fijian man Josefa Rauluni.

Mr Rauluni is thought to have killed himself by jumping off the roof of one of the detention centre buildings.

Fiji Freedom and Democracy Movement president Usaia Waqatairewa says he spoke to Mr Rauluni twice as he stood on the detention centre’s roof.

“[Rauluni] is saying to me: ‘They’re trying to grab me. I’d rather die than go back to Fiji’,” he said.

Mr Waqatairewa says both times he asked to talk to Villawood security.

“I asked them to back off because I’m going to try and call the Department of Immigration to intervene and twice they hung up on me,” he said.

“[Rauluni] asked to talk to the security guards standing nearby, appealing for them to back off, telling them he has the potential to be a major witness in a fraud case that [he’s] trying to nail for the police, for people who have been victimised in Australia by Fiji, but they wouldn’t listen.

“The lady said: ‘We’ve got a job to do’ and I was really upset. I said: ‘If he jumps, it’s going to be your head on the chopping block’ and she hung up on me.”

The police investigation into Mr Rauluni’s death is continuing.

But his death has sparked calls from the Federal Government’s Immigration Detention Advisory Group for an overhaul of mental health care for asylum seekers.

But the new Federal Minister for Mental Health, Mark Butler, says it is not his responsibility.

“Those are primarily matters that should be directed at the Immigration Minister,” he said.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says he is reviewing what he describes is a tragic incident.

“Obviously in relation to security I’ll have a look at this incident and see if there’s anything to learn from this incident,” he said.

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It is with heavy heart that we report this story and our deepest commiserations are for the Rauluni Family and their friends.

The deep sorrow we feel for Josefa Rauluni cannot be expressed and noone will understand the loss of this fine man better than his Family and friends.

May Gods Blessings be with you all, and may peace and refomation prevail for a better Fiji.

ruler, Frank Bainimarama, is consolidating control of the armed forces by appointing Iowane Naivalurua as police chief.

The brigadier general will today replace Commodore Esala Teleni, whose “Jesus Strategy” began to unsettle people in the government and beyond. It focused on Christian crusades and conversions as the prime strategy for combating crime, with mandatory worship at police stations.

An Information Ministry statement late last week said pointedly: “Commodore Teleni, in his resignation, stated that he believed he has made a significant contribution to the Fiji Police Force. However, it is now time for him to consider further career opportunities.”

It was announced last month that he would be succeeded by career policeman and deputy commissioner Joeli Baleilevuka. But three weeks later, Commodore Bainimarama stepped in and appointed one of his closest military colleagues to the key job.

General Naivalurua became commander of Fiji’s land forces in 2005, then led the first battalion in its Iraq deployment for six months. He has been the prisons commissioner since the coup led by Commodore Bainimarama in December 2006.

In 2005, then colonel Naivalurua said the army would never allow another coup in Fiji.

Before the 2006 coup, he described Commodore Bainimarama as “courageous, strong and a saviour of Fiji in this time of need”.

The day after that coup, Commodore Bainimarama sacked Fiji’s police commissioner, Andrew Hughes, a former senior Australian Federal Police officer, who went on to head the police in the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

General Naivalurua said after being appointed to the police job: “Expect changes, but not everything will be changed. I hope to build a strong force that will work strongly in partnership with the community.”

Meanwhile, Commodore Bainimarama, since returning from a recent visit to China, has urged the people of Fiji, especially public servants, to take up tai chi. At Sukuna Park, next to the main government offices, he introduced new Chinese tai chi coach Xu Xiangdong.

This is a really strange state of affairs, then again everything in Fiji is these days.

Why is Sa tu na Da Reddy so keen for everyone to accept the so called stolen cache?

Is it because it wasn’t stolen at all, but distributed among the coup perpetrators by readymade shit himself.

I mean, how else do they pay themselves big dalo to perpetuate the clean up coup?

Nasty little man.

INTERPOL is investigating a $560,000 heist in Fiji, as the central bank moves to bolster confidence in the nation’s currency.

Police said yesterday Interpol had been called in to help investigate the disappearance this month of $F1 million in $20 bills, which was destined for the Reserve Bank of Fiji.

It was initially believed the money was snatched from a wharf facility.

However, police have confirmed it was now thought to have been taken from a ship en route to Fiji.

Some of the stolen notes, which had been freshly printed in Britain, have trickled into circulation in Fiji since the theft, prompting Reserve Bank governor Sada Reddy to urge traders to treat them as legal.

Mr Reddy said traders should not hesitate to accept the

$20 notes, even if they had serial numbers showing they were taken in the robbery.

“Commercial banks, foreign exchange dealers and business houses are advised to accept these notes without question,” he said.

THE editorial independence of the Fiji Times is likely to be put under even greater pressure.

The threat arose after News Limited agreed to sell the Pacific nation’s oldest newspaper to local businessman Mahendra Patel.

News was forced to put the 142-year-old masthead up for sale after Fiji’s military government announced a crackdown on press freedom in late June, which included jail terms for journalists whose work is against the “public interest” and orders that media outlets must be 90 per cent owned by resident Fijian citizens.

It is understood Mr Patel, the chairman of Fiji conglomerate Motibhai & Company Limited and a former Fiji Times director, was regarded as the best candidate by News, with a number of bidders regarded as stalking horses for Commodore Frank Bainimarama’s regime.

The changes to media regulations were described as anti-democratic by former foreign minister Stephen Smith, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers Association and News Limited chairman and chief executive John Hartigan.

They form part of a wider diplomatic rift between the Fijian and Australian governments, which will be handled by new Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd.

In a statement, Mr Hartigan said the sale to Motibhai was the “best possible outcome for the staff, advertisers and readers”. He added: “We are reluctant sellers of the Fiji Times, but I am delighted that we have been able to find a buyer who will take over the business as a going concern, respect its heritage and invest in its future.”

Nevertheless, News executives believe the new owner will have to accept an even greater level of government interference in the day-to-day running of the daily, which has been critical of the Bainimarama regime. The Fiji Times is Fiji’s largest newspaper, with an average Monday-to-Friday circulation of about 19,000.

It is believed News will receive $10-$20 million for the Fiji Times, although the sale is subject to regulatory approval.

Tai Ci Master Oink left with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao right doing the famous kerekere shake, a classic martial law manoeuvre to extract as much money as possible to line empty suluvakataga empty pockets from cashed up nations,

Alas, Chinas gift is not money but slow motion meditation.

No wonder Oinks smile is so poterific, POTE!

Read on …………………………..

SUVA — China is sending a martial arts expert to Fiji to teach cabinet ministers in the Pacific island nation’s military regime the slow-motion techniques of tai chi, officials in Suva said Monday.

In a sign of growing ties between Beijing and Suva, Education Minister Filipe Bole said China agreed to send the tai chi master when Sports Minister Liu Peng visited Fiji earlier this year.

Bole said the expert, due to arrive on Monday, would spend three months teaching tai chi to cabinet ministers, public servants, police, military and the general public.

He said tai chi was used for defence training and had health benefits.

“It has often been referred to as ‘moving meditation’. Practitioners move their bodies slowly, gently, and with awareness, while breathing deeply,” Bole said in a statement.

The move is one of the more unusual results of Fiji’s push to increase ties with China in the face of condemnation from traditional allies Australia and New Zealand over military leader Voreqe Bainimarama’s regime.

Since Bainimarama seized power in a 2006 coup, Australia and New Zealand have successfully pushed for Fiji’s suspension from the Commonwealth of mainly former British colonies and the 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum.

Bainimarama has responded by looking elsewhere for allies, saying last month that China was the one country that understands the reforms he is trying to implement ahead of elections he says will be held in 2014.

Fiji also said earlier this month that it will open diplomatic missions in Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil as it continues to shift its diplomatic focus.

FIJI buffoon Frank Bainimarama has ramped up his war of words with Australia, saying he will ditch ties with Canberra and instead turn to China for support.

Commodore Bainimarama – who last month expelled Australia’s top envoy from the Pacific Island nation – said only China could help Fiji.

In what appears to be an effort to further pressure regional neighbours to back his regime, Commodore Bainimarama also lashed out at the 16-country Pacific Island Forum over its continued suspension of Fiji.

”I think we need to forget about the [Pacific] forum, about Australia and New Zealand. Let’s maintain the trade but forget about the politics,” he said.

Fiji has become a big test of Australia’s diplomatic influence in the Pacific. The forum eventually suspended Fiji after Commodore Bainimarama refused to hold fresh elections after the 2006 coup in which he seized power.

But he held a rival regional meeting in Suva last month and gained a surprising show of support, further straining ties.

On a visit to the World Expo in Shanghai, he praised China’s vision and ability to help Fiji develop.

”We need infrastructure, we need water, we need electricity. Australia and New Zealand and America, none of those nations are going to provide that.”We know that now because of their policies towards us, so let’s forget about these nations,” he said on the Fijivillage News website.

South Pacific specialist Jenny Hayward-Jones said the comments marked a new level in the row with Australia and attempts to isolate the Fijian regime.

”Other Pacific countries want to talk to Fiji, and Australia and New Zealand are the only ones maintaining this ‘don’t talk’ policy,” she said.

But she said Commodore Bainimarama had overestimated China’s interest in Fiji and willingness to prop up his regime.

Cutting ties with Australia would also impact on Fiji’s economy, Ms Hayward-Jones said.

With AFP

Aw man, the oink hasn’t learnt an iota of policy or diplomacy in his 3.5 years as self imposed pm, his irrelevancy is outstanding indeed.

He can’t expect other countries to keep funding Fiji when Fiji was more than capable of funding it’s own costs for infrastructure, clean water (that we have in abundance) and electricity before his infamous grab at power that he cannot sustain.

Here it is biting the very hands that feed him, bokola. It’s no wonder he’s the laughing stock of the world.

The oink should just go masi his old volo under a mango tree, it’s more his style.

In today’s Age, Dan Flitton reports statements from Fiji’s dictator Frank Bainimarama that he wants to ditch ties with Australia and New Zealand in favour of China. While China tried to make a big splash in Fiji right after the coup, promising to deliver over $US160 million in grants and soft loans, the reality has been a little different.

After the 2006 coup, China came in strong to pre-empt Fiji making a switch to diplomatically recognising Taiwan. It handed Bainimarama US$5 million in cash, leading him to bring control over Chinese aid under his own immediate office. But since then, China and Taiwan have agreed to an informal détente, ending their damaging diplomatic competition in the region for the time being. China also seems to have felt pressure not to be seen to be lavishing aid on a pariah government.

It has gone ahead with projects like the Nadarivatu hydro project, which had been previously scoped by the World Bank, but it has been slow to disperse the other aid promised. The Fiji Government might claim this is because of disagreements over use of local labour or some such excuse, but surely it would have been in Bainimarama’s interest to see infrastructure projects rolled out on a timely basis so he could at least demonstrate some benefits from his rule?

So is China the saviour that Fiji’s strongman has been looking for? The evidence suggests it isn’t. China has been slow to unroll its aid to Fiji and there are reports it has knocked back proposals to do more. A review Mary Fifita and I are undertaking of China’s aid pledges to the region in 2009 also suggests the flows to Fiji were minimal.

Academic and founder of the Post Graduate Development Studies at USP believes that Fiji could not achieve a full democracy without going through its current “painful process” under the current governments.

Speaking to Radio New Zealand, Professor Crosbie Walsh said sacrifices have to be made to achieve the desired objectives in Fiji.

SOLIVAKASAMA SAYS:

When are these expats and ex Fiji residents of expat heritage going to think critically about the abnormal situation in Fiji.

What standards of ethics do they subscribe to when the people of Fiji are suffering because of the dictates of a few mindless beings.

How can they justify the downfall of the economy here since 5.12.06 that is not due to the global financial crisis but the mismangement of the ig?

How can they justify murders and bashings by army personnel since 5.12.06?

How can they justify the abrogation of the constitution and sacking of the judiciary, then the employment of expats to fill these positions leaving locals jobless?

How can they justify the fact that numerous civil servants have been sacked from their employment to be replaced by incompetent, unqualified army personnel who are blantantly rorting the systems?

How can they justify the fact that the ig have suppressed our basic human rights here in Fiji to have an opinion, supressed our reading, listening or viewing preferences?

How can they justify the deportation of Newspaper editors and Ambassadors for no valid reason? One ambassador was deported because he was given the seat of honour at a rugby match over the illegal pm, a clear indication to the whole world just how petty and insecure the oink really is.

It’s not so strange that these expats who migrated are now back & backing the ig in an attempt to big note themselves.

These are people who never made it Fiji nor in the countries they migrated to, have absolutely no idea how the average Fijian families live yet are quick to destroy the very lives of the average Fijian by talking up their lack of qualifications (zilch) and lying to the world how grateful the citizens of Fiji should be that the ig has wrecked everything.

We’ve seen the john prasads come in, rip off the Fiji Nation as quickly as possible with no regrets then piss of back to the country they disowned Fiji for?

Now we have another expat Peter Thompson working for the man, wow how times have changed, Thompson now has to kowtow to the oink whose father was a mere subordinate of Thompson senior.